Remember Him
by FriendsTimeFood
Summary: In the wake of his death, Cedric's Hufflepuff house mates mourn his passing and ensure that he is remembered as one of them


In the days after the death of Cedric Diggory, the Hufflepuff common room is never empty. Not in the middle of the night, not during the day when the students should be in class or at meals. There are always students occupying the soft couches or sprawled on the floor in the corners.

Grief has pierced the atmosphere here, where it is usually serene. The soft yellow of the walls always makes the room seem warm and inviting, but for these last few days it has been a stark contrast to the feelings on its inhabitants.

On the minds of every student is the tragic passing of Cedric Diggory. Hufflepuff golden boy, star quidditch player prefect, and in his most recent mantle, Triwizard Champion. To some of them, mostly the younger years, he is a more distant figure. They know him as champion and friendly face in the common room, always willing to help them along in their homework. To the older students he was a friend. A great friend. A shoulder to cry on, a pal to have a joke with, a potions partner or a dorm mate. And to many, always to his embarrassment, a lingering crush.

Now though, he is dead, nothing but a memory.

At this moment, there is an increase noise as the Hufflepuffs that made it to the Great Hall for dinner trickle back in, but over the quiet conversations the sound of sobs is still audible.

As a group of seventh years settle into the couches, their conversation becomes louder and the rest of the room stops their own to listen in.

"It's bullshit, every time we go into the halls I hear it. Again and again they call him daring, or brave. Thy praise how smart he was, or how he was the most ambitious Hufflepuff in an age." Jack McDonald, Cedric's dorm mate says furiously, his hands shaking from the effort of keeping his anger in check.

"I know it is Jack, but we can't let them get to us, they didn't know him like we did," another dorm mate, Stephan Jones replies, "we'll to remember him right. We have to"

"Of course, a Hufflepuff never forgets a friend, not even a departed one." A girl sat behind Stephen pipes up. Henrietta Gough, sixth year, who had been in a study group with Cedric since her second, and his third year.

"That's right, a Hufflepuff, like Cedric was. It important to remember him as one of us. Don't let the other houses steamroll over his Hufflepuff-ness," Jack spoke up again, less anger and more determination in his voice." Cedric was one of us. He treasured the same qualities we did."

"Dedication!" Another sixth year shouted, and it was as through a floodgate had burst open. More voices started shouting the Hufflepuff qualities they themselves treasured.

"Hard work!"

"Loyalty!"

"Kindness!"

"Exactly!" roared Jack over the noise of everyone else, he was getting heated now, standing up and looking down at the students sat around him. "We know was he was, and we'll make sure the school does too."

And so, they did. The next day when they returned to classes and heard the other houses praise Cedric with qualities central to their own house, they would find themselves gently corrected.

"He was so chivalrous, letting Harry take the cup at the same time a him" would be said by a second year Gryffindor in the corridor outside second period charms.

"No, he was fair, like a Hufflepuff should be." Says her classmate, second year Hufflepuff Anna Lowe.

"Who would have known that a 'Puff had any ambition in them?" Sneered a bratty Slytherin in the Great Hall at lunch.

Fifth year Hufflepuff Jake Gillies overhears this on his way to take a seat beside his friends, and bends his head to be level with theirs, resting his hands on the Slytherin table.

"Hard work is a Hufflepuff characteristic, and it takes hard work to succeed as he did." And with his part said, he leaves them to contemplate this and sits at his own table.

And so Cedric Diggory is remembered by Hufflepuff as an example of the best they could be. He is remembered as embodying Hufflepuff perfectly. He is known to them as he is never known to anyone from other houses, who just don't understand how they cold be so proud of the qualities they themselves see as juvenile, or as somehow worth less than their own house characteristics.

A plague sits on the wall in the Hufflepuff common room from then on. It reads,

'In memory of Cedric Diggory, 1977 – 1995, Hufflepuff Champion".


End file.
